There's some use crying over spilled milk
by RavenclawWeasel531
Summary: Anakin and Obi-Wan's first night back at the Temple without Qui-Gon.


**Last time I was browsing in the Star Wars fanfiction archive, I found a couple of fanfictions that are right after Phantom Menace, and I thought they were so good! So, yeah, this is a fanfic that is going to follow in the footsteps of one of those fics:)**

 **Warnings: There's some references to past child abuse.**

 **Disclaimer: As always, I don't own Star Wars. Man, I wish I did though.**

"Master?" A hesitant voice broke Obi-Wan's thoughts

"What?" Obi-Wan snapped at him. Force, he was so tired. Why couldn't he just sleep? Then, feeling bad, he added, "Sorry Anakin. I'm just tired. I didn't mean to snap at you."

"It's okay, Master," Anakin said brightly. "Sometimes, when my mom had a bad day, she'd be cross too. I'm used to it. Anyways, I was wondering. Where's the fire where you cook? I was going to make dinner."

"Anakin, you don't have to make dinner," Obi-Wan said guiltily. "That's not your job, it's mine. And we don't have a fireplace to cook dinner, we cook in a kitchen. Ours is in right in here," he said.

"Wow!" Anakin said happily, and scampered in, looking at all of the different devices. "How do you use all of these?"

"Well," Obi-Wan said, thinking for a second. "I learned how to use all of these when I was little, that's probably why. You'll learn," He told the boy, who looked positively amazed. Obi-Wan was personally amazed that this child knew almost nothing about modern facilities. When they had arrived, Anakin had first asked him where they used the restroom, and Obi-Wan had to explain the function of a bathroom to the padawan, who had been amazed. Although, looking back, he shouldn't have been. He'd seen his fair share of slavery during his time with Qui-Gon.

"Wow!" Anakin said. "Can I help you at all?" He asked his master hopefully.

"Of course Anakin," Obi-Wan replied, surprised at his willingness to help. "It would be very nice if you would set the table."

"Sure!" Anakin exclaimed.

As his new padawan set the table enthusiastically for dinner, he remembered with sadness how he used to be in this position. Qui-Gon would make dinner while Obi-Wan would usually set the table. Now, he was the master, and it was odd. He'd only made dinner a handful of times, and he had no clue on what he would make. Oh well. He'd figure it out.

As they sat down to dinner, Anakin said, "This is a lot of food. Who else is coming?

Obi-Wan nearly choked on his food. "Only us, Anakin. Why? This is just enough food for two people?"

"Oh. I guess I'm just used to less food then this at home," Anakin said.

"This is about how much food we'll eat normally here," Obi-Wan told his small padawan. "When you had your physical exam, the healers told me that I'd better fatten you up, since you were underweight. You're going back next week for shots too," he reminded his padawan.

"Ok," Anakin said calmly, as he started to eat. "Master Obi-Wan, do you ever miss Master Qui-Gon?" He asked him calmly. In response, Obi-Wan almost choked on his food.

"Well, yes. He was like a father to me," Obi-Wan admitted.

"He was always nice to me," Anakin said.

An awkward silence settled over the pair. Then, Anakin accidently spilled his milk all over the table, and the cup rolled off the table, breaking. Anakin gulped. He figured Obi-Wan would send him to bed without dinner, or maybe even hit or yell at him. However, Obi-Wan just calmly got up and got a towel. Then, calling over his shoulder said, "Anakin, will you wipe up the milk? I've got to sweep up this glass."

Anakin stared at him. "Uh, sure."

He silently cleaned up the milk as Obi-Wan observed him. Anakin seemed much more subdued now that he was in the Jedi Temple, and it worried him. When Anakin had responded to his request to clean up the milk, he'd sounded almost unsure and surprised at the same time. Perhaps he'd just been rattled by breaking something, Obi-Wan thought. He turned away to get a broom and dustpan, not noticing how nervous Anakin looked.

A few minutes later, they were sitting back down at dinner. Anakin avoided Obi-Wan's piercing gaze, which quite frankly, made him think Obi-Wan was trying to read his mind.

"Anakin?" Obi-Wan said. "Are you okay?"

This was not what Anakin had been expecting. He had been expecting something more along the lines of, "I'm very angry you broke that glass," not "Are you okay."

"Oh, um, I'm fine I guess," Anakin responded.

" _Anakin,"_ Obi-Wan sighed. "You know you can tell me, right?"

"It's silly," Anakin said. "I guess I was worried you were going to be super mad at me for breaking the glass. That's what used to happen back at home, I mean at Watto's. He'd usually yell at me, and I was surprised, that's all." He stared down at his hands. It really was silly now that he'd said it out loud.

Obi-Wan looked at Anakin thoughtfully. "I was angry, but it's not like I'm going to yell at you for accidentally breaking something. Everyone breaks stuff you know."

"Yeah, I know," Anakin said. "I told you it was silly."

"Anakin, that was just your brain being used to something else. When you do something wrong, your brain prepares itself for the usual response. In your case, it's Watto being angry. So you were understandably surprised when that didn't happen. It's not silly at all."

"Oh. I thought you were gonna hit me or something. That's how it worked on Tatooine anyways. If a slave did something wrong, that's what happened. Or they'd take away our dinner or something. It's better here."

"Anakin, you do know that kind of treatment isn't okay, right?" Obi-Wan was horrified. While he knew that slaves had little control over their own lives, and furthermore, were treated harshly, his brain hadn't quite connected that the slaves that were mistreated likely included his padawan learner.

"Well, I guess so. Whenever I did something wrong at work and came home later, mom would always be really sad, but I just thought it was because she didn't like to see me hurt, not that is was bad," he said. Anakin was shaking slightly, though he wouldn't have let Obi-Wan know that for any sum of money in the world. At 9 years old, he was too old to be upset over getting beaten.

"Oh Anakin," Obi-Wan sighed. "Come here."

Anakin practically threw himself into Obi-Wan's lap. He allowed himself to be held like a small child, curling himself into a small ball just like he used to do with his mother. The tears slowly began to fall, some because of his surprise at his master's kindness, but some for his mother, and all he'd left behind on -Wan rocked him gently, and pretended not to notice the silent tears that were falling down Anakin's face.

"You okay?" Obi-Wan finally said. "It's almost time for bed."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Where am I supposed to sleep?" Anakin asked, wiping away his tears.

"Your room is over here," Obi-Wan said, depositing the padawan on the floor. "There should be some pajamas in there, and you can bring your dirty clothes in here for me to take to the laundry."

He showed his padawan to his room, then went and waited in the living room. Obi-Wan sighed again. Anakin had evidently been hiding a lot more than he let on about his past, and he strongly suspected that he would find out more about what he'd dealt with in the next few weeks.

"Should I put my dirty clothes here?" Anakin asked, gesturing to a small basket that held a few dirty tunics already.

"Yes, that's fine. Now, come on, it's bedtime," Obi-Wan said, herding his padawan to his room.

After Anakin had been tucked in, Obi-Wan turned to leave. A voice made him turn to face the bed.

"Hey Master?" Anakin whispered. "G'night. Thanks."

Obi-Wan felt his heart swell as he responded, "Goodnight Anakin. Sleep well."

He couldn't have been certain, but he thought he heard Anakin say, "I love you," as he shut the door.

"I love you too my padawan," he smiled.

 **Well, what did you think? As always, I love any form of input about my stories.**


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